The 14th Annual Fall Classic was held this past weekend at Freedom Motorsports Park in Delevan NY. The annual fall event has been held the previous 13 years at McKean County Raceway but was moved this year due to MCR being shutdown. Chub Frank who won the very first Fall Classic in 2006 won Friday nights portion event that was postponed till Saturday afternoon and Max Blair won the Saturday night finale, which was the Mike “Duke” DuClon Memorial. Blair also officially became the 2019 Zimmer Service Center ULMS Champion for the second straight year.
The 30 lap Friday night event was moved to Saturday afternoon after an electric transformer adjacent to the track property malfunction during Friday night events. The day time afternoon event saw Boom Briggs and Max Blair leading the field to the green. Briggs slid up in turn one as Blair got extremely losing spots on the start with Frank quickly into second followed by Michael Wonderling, Zack Carley and Blair slid back to fifth on the opening lap.
Frank would sneak under Briggs in turn 3 and come out the leader on lap 2 as Carley quickly moved up to third. Lap five would see Wonderling pressuring Carley for the third spot and lap 6 would see Wonderling take the third spot from the young Carley. The car on the move was Michael Maresca who started 14th and was up to 7th positon on lap 7.
Greg Oakes would take fifth on lap from Carley who started to drop back in the field possibly due to his tires going away early with the day time surface. Maresca would grab sixth a lap later from
Carley who fell to 7th position. Meanwhile Chubzilla was in lap traffic keeping Briggs at bay. Oakes and Maresca swapped the fifth positions on back to back laps as the 7mm machine was using the outside lane. Maresca would take back the fifth positon on lap 16 from Oakes.
Wonderling started to close in on Briggs using the high line like Maresca had been using and keeping Blair behind him. With ten to go, Wonderling looked like he may been the fastest car on the track and he was all over the #99B of Briggs. Lap 22 would see Wonderling and Briggs side by side for the next two laps and finally Wonderling would grab second from Briggs using the outside lane. This would put Blair now all over Briggs rear bumper until the first yellow of the event coming out on lap 26 for Jason Dobson.
On the restart Frank refired the field with Wonderling choosing the inside lane the veteran dirt late model Hall of Famer protected the bottom in turn one. Briggs would slide a little high allowing Blair to get by for third. The final laps stayed the same and Chub Frank the 2002 ULMS Champion would pick up his first series win since 2007 and his fifth series win. Frank was followed by Wonderling who had a stellar finish in the runner up position. Blair’s third place finish secured the 2019 ULMS Championship, Briggs slid back to fourth at the end and Michael Maresca came home fifth from 14th.
The Saturday night program was held a few hours after Chub Frank picked up the $2500 prize money and Integra Shocks Qualifying saw Boom Briggs with the overall fast time 14.694 seconds.
The 6th annual Mike “Duke” DuClon Memorial presented by Close Racing Supply was the highlight of the Fall Classic weekend at Freedom. The nineteen car field saw Michael Maresca who finished fifth in the daytime ULMS event and second in a earlier big block modified feature was on the pole with afternoon winner, Chub Frank on the outside.
Right at the start the wiley veteran of Frank quickly shot in the lead over Maresca and rest of the field. As lap one was completed Zack Wiech spun in turn 1 to bring out the yellow. Frank bolted again on the restart as Blair took over second from Maresca with Briggs and Bryce Davis rounding out the top five.
With five laps in, it was still Frank over Blair who started to close in on the leader and Greg Oakes was now in fifth. Blair started to nip at Frank’s quarter panel and on lap 9, the special #58 in memory of DuClon took the lead from Frank’s famous #1* machine in turn 4 as the fans were on their feet.
From that point on, Blair would extend his lead and the true race was for second as by the halfway point Blair was half a straightaway ahead of Frank with Maresca, Briggs and Oakes still in fifth. Lap 20 would see Blair open his lead to a full straightaway and was working lap traffic magically. The final ten laps the field was pretty much in the bottom lane beside Blair who had a half track lead on the afternoon winner, Frank at the checkers. Following the top two were Maresca, Blair and Oakes.
Greg Oakes won the $500 Close Racing Supply ULMS vs Big Block Modified Shootout for the second time in three years. Oakes would start third and use a lap 1 restart to get around Chub Frank and race his way to the prize money.
The Zimmer Service Center ULMS Late Model Series will end their 2019 season on Friday night at Thunder Mountain Speedway in Brookville, PA. The series is looking forward to making some big 20th anniversary season announcements in the next few weeks for the 2020 season.
ULMS RACING SERIES is proudly supported by Zimmer’s Service Center, Close Racing Supply, Insinger Performance, Sunoco Race Fuels, Precise Racing, Hoosier Tire Mid Atlantic, Lias Tire, American Racer Tire, Murphy’s Logging, Alliance Racewear, WEHRS Machinery & Racing Products, DirtDefender, Jay’s Auto Wrecking, Genesis Shocks, Keyser Manufacturing, Integra Shocks, Keizer Wheels, Cousins Designs, Dynamic Drivelines, Mary Norgrove Notary Public, Jays Automotive, Phantom Signs & Graphics, and Advocare by Advozuvy.com
Friday / Saturday Afternoon RESULTS:
FEATURE:
CHUB FRANK, Mike Wonderling,Max Blair, Boom Briggs, Michael Maresca, Greg Oakes, Bryce Davis, Doug Eck, Kyle Bedell, Zack Carley, Nathan Hill, Jason Dobson, Jeremy Wonderling, Zack Wiech, Dave Scott (DNS).
Heat #1
Frank, Blair Wonderling, Oakes, Hill, Bedell , Dobson
Heat #2
Briggs, Scott, Carley, Wiech, Eck, Wonderling, Davis
Integra Shocks Fast Time ($75 certificate) Chub Frank
Genesis Shocks ($150 certificate) Chub Frank
Dynamic Drivelines ($50 certificate) Greg Oakes
Keizer Wheels $50 certificate (Zack Carley)
Alliance Race Wear Hard Charger (Driver Gloves) Michael Maresca
Mike “Duke” DuClon Memorial RESULTS:
MAX BLAIR, Frank, Maresca, Briggs, Oakes, Davis, M. Wonderling, Brad Mesler, Hill, Bedell, Joel Watson, Eck, Kyle Murray, Dobson, Tim Schram, Wiech, J. Wonderling, Dave Dubois, Andy Boozel.
Heat #1
Briggs, Maresca, Davis, Watson, J. Wonderling, Dobson, Boozel
Heat #2
Blair, M Wonderling, Hill, Mesler, Wiech, Murray
Heat #3
Frank, Oakes, Dubois, Eck, Bedell, Schram
Integra Shocks Fast Time ($75 certificate) Boom Briggs
Genesis Shocks ($150 certificate) Max Blair
Dynamic Drivelines ($50 certificate) Bryce Davis
Keizer Wheels $50 certificate (Kyle Bedell)
Alliance Race Wear Hard Charger (Driver Gloves) Kyle Bedell